At 8:40 p.m. on November 22, 2004, staff of the daily newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak say they heard a blast near the entrance of their editorial office. When they went outside, they saw that the Niva belonging to editor-in-chief Nikol Pashinyan was in flames. The fire department was called in, and the flames extinguished.

The Haykakan Zhamanak office is located in central Yerevan, near Saint Sargis Church and the Police Department of Yerevan's Kentron and Nork Marash communities.

In an improvised news conference in the office, Pashinyan suggested that Gagik Tsarukyan, the president of the company Multi Group and a member of parliament may have been behind the explosion, and called on law enforcement agencies to investigate. He explained, "There have been some publications in Haykakan Zhamanak about Gagik Tsarukyan, known as Dodi (Stupid) Gago, and he tried, through various people, to set up a meeting with me." The editor refused to meet with him. Afterwards a number of sources informed Pashinyan that he had infuriated Tsarukyan and warned that Tsarukyan had decided to punish him.

"It is possible that Tsarukyan lost patience after we published a story in a recent issue accusing him of illegally cutting down trees to build a villa in Tsaghkadzor," Nikol Pashinyan told journalists. (The article was printed in Haykakan Zhamanak before appearing in Hetq-online.) "Tsarukyan knew, of course, that the chairman of the NGO Investigative Journalists of Armenia, Edik Baghdasaryan, is continuing his investigation of the matter the subject and that more articles are due in Haykakan Zhamanak. Besides, HZh is working on other material related to Tsarukyan's business dealings, and he knew about that. Nevertheless, a question arises: What was the objective of this action? Without going into details, we can state unequivocally that the action was aimed at keeping the Haykakan Zhamanak staff in awe, at the least, and making sure that the newspaper 'keeps within its limits.'"

Tsarukyan commented on Pashinyan's statement in the Los Angeles-based daily Zhamanak: "If the editor of the newspaper in question believes in such an un-serious version of events, let the law enforcement agencies go and check. I am simply amazed, since I had no objection to that material; if I had, I would have sent my lawyer to receive and give clarifications. I am also surprised since I have had normal relations with this editor, and I don't suppose I'm the only one he writes articles and expresses opinions about. Why doesn't he put forth some other theories, too?" The Zhamanak reporter went on to ask, "Are people who commit crimes punished in Armenia? Is Armenia a rule-of-law state or.?" "Of course, it's a rule-of-law state," Tsarukyan responded. "Yes, we live in a lawful country. What has happened that we are not a lawful country? And what are journalists doing? What, they want me to go on TV and open my mouth and defend myself? I do so many things for this country; tomorrow I'm going to open yet another factory. Do you think that Tsarukyan is such an un-serious man that he might do such a thing?"

We should point out that Hetq is continuing its investigation into the business that MP Gagik Tsarukyan conducts in violation of the law, about the crimes members of his entourage commit, and about the role his bodyguards played in the attack on journalists at the April 5, 2004 opposition rally in Yerevan.